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Blog Post Updates

Over the past months, all the lovely people who read and comment on this blog have given me a lot of excellent feedback on blog post issues that arise in and around my life. So, I thought it might be a nice to go back to some of these posts (in no particular order) and let you all know how they turned out.

I am a Pathetic Whiner: YES! For anybody who hasn’t yet heard (like maybe Monah from Russia) The Ottawa transit strike is over as of about 5:30 pm on Thursday, January 29 (Day 51). Nobody won anything and almost everybody lost a lot.

What happened was the Feds finally got done with nap time and jumped into the strike playdate sandbox with the City kids and the OC Transpo kids who were all grumpy and pouting in corners because they missed their own naptimes and didn’t get enough juice boxes at snack time. But then when the big Feds came along everybody freaked out because they sure didn’t want them at their playdate. So they all got out of the sandbox and yelled “FINE!” And then they all went home mad and so now everybody’s Binding Arbitration Moms have to step in and figure out a way for everyone to play nice again.

Of course it’s going to be more than a week before any buses start rolling and months before they’re all back up and running.

The First Date: Was there ever a more exciting day at Chez XUP? Not that I can recall. The girl spent hours getting ready, all twittery. The boy was five minutes late, which didn’t impress me much and got the girl all worried. But he was cute as all get out when he did arrive. And ultra polite. And very, very nervous. He shook my hand and answered all my questions fully and thoroughly and even volunteered additional information. I put him out of his misery within about 2 minutes and off they went.

He brought her home slightly before the appointed hour and while there didn’t seem to be any little hearts circling around her head, it sounded like the evening went well overall. And, there was a lot of smilingly mysterious texting going on just before bed.

The Naughty Molar: I got the crown. There was an excruciating 2 hours of prep work involved during which I lost the almost 40-year-old filling; the dentist replaced it and then broke it while he was whittling down the tooth, to he had to do another filling. Then there was a 2-week wait and now I have a lovely, shiny new crown. No problems so far. (I know it dulls in comparison to the date story, doesn’t it?)

Help! Wanted! This is the one about the criminally insane pharmacy assistant – I switched to a slightly less insane pharmacy as per your recommendations.

Teens and Right to Privacy: The central character in this ongoing saga, my daughter’s friend Carly, was invited not to return to the school for second semester and will be attending a high school with a less arsty environment and with stricter enforcements in place. There were many tears (of sadness and relief) as the girls bid each other good-bye. We wish her well.

Romancing the Undead: The post where I despaired over my daughter’s new obsession with this crazy vampire series of books and movies – Twilight. She recently started reading the 3rd installment. We were both sitting quietly with our books the other day. After about an hour she throws her book down in disgust and says, “this book is stupid”. I clapped for joy –silently in my head.

Meeting Bloggers: From way back in November when a bunch of Ottawa bloggers got together for brunch. We had intended to have another brunch in January, but there have been some transportation issues within the city, so we’ll probably aim to try another one late February or early March and/or whenever all the transportation issues are finally resolved. We’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile a few of the people who first met at the November brunch have gotten together in various small groups and bonded. Isn’t that sweet?

Second Woman: It’s the Subway. It stinks like that because they make their bread from flour made from that black crud you find down on the subway rails.

First Woman: What? Really?

Second Woman: Rolls eyes.

She could only have gotten this idea from the blog, right? If anyone would like to confess to being Second Woman, that would be cool.

Meet My New Fiancé: Bazel and I snuck off to Reno and got married on New Year’s Eve. We are as much in love as we ever were and look forward to a good 10 years or so of wedded bliss. Oh sure, he has a few little annoying habits, like sometimes rolling a ball of poo out of his litter box and playing soccer with it all over the house when he has several perfectly good actual kitty soccer balls in his toy collection. But overall we understand and adore each other — although he never says it in so many words… I know…

Nat – It’s very cool that bloggers are getting to know each other in real life.

Dr. Monkey – It’s waht keeps life interesting.

Meanie – I always want to know the end of the story. I read blog and newspapers and I read the beginning of the story, but I almost never get to hear how the story resolves itself. I find that frustrating.

Davis – He still seems a little stupid. Because if I were him, I’d get my daughter locked down to a follow-up date. He’ll never do better than her, but then I may be biased!!

Missy – Yes, thank you. I hadn’t wanted to say anything about the wedding before, but i’m confident that things are going to work out, so I wanted everyone to know.

More people should help readers out with end-of-the-movie posts. My attention span doesn’t allow me to finish one of my own thoughts, but I really worry about the end of other people’s threads. All the “what-ifs” can be ex-HAUST-ing.

My God, XUP! I actually left Ottawa on Thursday night and was enough of a bum that I didn’t check the news on Friday… So today I’m looking over your blog and “WHAT! THE STRIKE IS OVER!!!!!”
You just made my LIFE…

Gaaah! That was me with the ‘aconcernedcitizen’ comment. I’m minding another blog for a group I’m in and it’s on wordpress, so that was a booboo… didnt’ realize I was logged in.
Thanks for the good oc transpo news, anyway…

Well, next week you get on that bus with your shiny new crown and thumb your nose at the bad pharmacy as you pass it, refuse to give way to campy vampires and say hi to any bloggers you meet. Then go home kiss your cat and pat your daughter on the head. Or visa versa.

Jazz- Well, WE haven’t met yet and we’re practically neighbours! I don’t suppose people from Montreal ever go to Ottawa, but I’ll be in touch next time we’re in Montreal. And, thanks I will suggest The Historian to her, although I think it’s the teenage romance she is/was interested in more than the vampires, especially considering they’re not really vampires.

Deb – Exactly. If people put a scenario out there asking for input/advice, then they should follow-up with what eventually happened. Drives me crazy about the news, too – you get a few snippets of the story when it’s hot news and then never find out what happened to everyone involved. Back in the 19th Century they used to follow a story until you knew the players as well as your own family

Jobthingy – I was surprisingly calm all evening. He seemed like such a very sensible boy and of course, my daughter is sensible, too. I know when she was your daughter’s age, I couldn’t have imagined such a thing, but it creeps up on you slowly. And, Bazel and I thank you for your good wishes. Yes, the poo thing is a little quirky, but he’s very low maintenance otherwise. I can come and go as I please and he never says a word. He gives me tons of room in the bed and doesn’t indulge in any macho posturing. What more could you ask?

Noha – Well, gee. You’re welcome. Don’t get too excited, though because it will be a while before all the buses are running again and a week until ANY buses are running.

Pinklea – Yes, along with updating regular readers this post also serves to lure new readers back into the vault. No slinking required. Enjoy.

Geewits – Sounds like a plan. If any of the buses they roll out next week actually are any of the ones I could take. Which so far it doesn’t look like they will be. One day though… One day.

I think we definitely need another blogger brunch. I’ve had blogger Bridgehead and blogger pizza with various bloggers since (and lived to tell the tale!) but the place we had brunch has very fine eggs.

And I like eggs.

Glad to hear the date went well. The Subway story is hilarious! You know you’re a local celebrity when people are quoting your blog in the malls. Next time I see you I want your autograph.

Maven – You’re going to have to talk to my people about getting an autograph, but I’m definitley psyched for an eggy brunch. We don’t want to go back to that place though because they were so damn slow and we all had to sit in a line even though they promised me we would have a circle of tables.

YAY!! END OF TRANSIT STRIKE!! (Where my joy for you is measured in CAPITAL LETTERS. AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Dude. You have a reader from Russia? With a blog in Russian? You truly ARE even more amazing than I already knew.

Awesome about the first date going so well (translation: free of trauma for mamma) and how lovely things are also going well for you and Bazel. Perhaps someday in a perfect world the two of you can double date with Moses and me.

Lesley – Yes, this lovely Russian woman showed up on my blog the other day and left a comment. I found her blog which oddly enough was all in Russian, but thanks to google translate I was able to determine that she wrote love lyrics in Russian all over her blog. That’s it! One after another. They’re quite good, though I’m sure they lose something in translation. I left a comment in English. Anyway, it was very exciting. I haven’t heard from her since. I hope she comes back. And you’re on for the double date. It’ll have to be in Canada, though because I know how you Americans feel about alternative lifestyles